The present invention relates to Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) and more specifically to a method and apparatus for automatically prompting a user to perform a series of setup operations during an initial setup procedure and denoting a change of mode upon satisfactory completion of the setup procedure.
Personal Emergency Response Systems are widely used by the elderly or infirm to allow an individual to summon assistance if such as needed. Typically, a PERS includes a Personal help button (PHB) and a communicator. The PHB includes an RF transmitter or an infra-red transmitter that transmits a signal to the communicator in response to the activation of the personal help button by the user that requires assistance. The communicator receives the signal transmitted by the PHB and initiates a telephone call to a call-center. Upon connection of the call from the communicator to the call-center, the communicator enables a speakerphone in the communicator so that an operator at the call-center can speak with the user requiring assistance assuming the user is able to communicate. The communicator also conveys data identifying the subscriber to the call-center. If the user indicates that assistance is required or if a call to the call-center is initiated and the user is unable to speak, or unable to be heard, assistance may be summoned by the operator at the call-center.
Such systems can be of great aid to the elderly or infirm and can avoid unfortunate situations in which an individual is in need of assistance and is unable to summon help. However, as is readily apparent, in order for a PERS to function, it must be properly installed. While the installation of such units is straightforward, many PERS units are installed by volunteers, personnel with limited training or personnel with limited technical knowledge. For this reason, it would be desirable to have a simple and reliable method for installing the PERS system and verifying that the unit is properly installed after the unit is delivered to the user. Moreover, it would be desirable for the installation of the PERS communicator to be properly installed by an elderly individual with limited technical expertise since such individuals represent the great majority of PERS users.